Maronite Patriarch Mgr. Bechara al-Rai called for the protection of civilians in southern Lebanon and denounced the smear campaign against Bishop Moussa el-Hage during his homily in Bkerke on Sunday.
“We call for the removal of the rocket launchers planted between homes in South Lebanon, which trigger destructive Israeli responses. Are they being installed for this purpose?” said the Patriarch, who also called for “respect for UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” According to him, “we must prevent the Gaza war from spreading to Lebanon and protect the Lebanese who are still affected by the after-effects of the disastrous Lebanese war.”
Archbishop Rai then denounced the attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers “in certain villages,” noting that “their aim is to limit the movements of these forces.”
He also condemned “the immoral and unfounded campaign of provocation against the Bishop of Haifa and the Holy Land, Mgr. Moussa el-Hage,” deploring “the lies about him on social networks.” He assured that, “contrary to what has been claimed, he was not part of the delegation that visited the Israeli president, as he was busy elsewhere, in his bishopric.”
The Patriarch denounced, in the harshest terms, the “shameless and nameless war waged against the children, women and elderly of Gaza by Israel, which boasts of using weapons developed against them.” He felt that it was “above all the international community that must be castigated for its silence on what is happening when Israel believes that it can, through this war, liquidate the Palestinian cause and put an end to the plans for the establishment of two states and the return of (Palestinian) refugees to their homes.”
